LibGuides: Detecting Bias: Leanings of Magazines, Newspapers

Caution

!!! !!!

The two websites below,

AllSides Media Bias Chart, and

Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC)

are offered to help users see how various bias evaluating websites rate newspapers and media on the spectrum ranging from liberal, center to conservative.

Each uses a different rating system which is explained at the website.
These tools are not meant to substitute for personal, critical, informed analysis but rather to give the user a sense of the ratings and tools that are available and to encourage further analysis, such as what is offered on other pages of this LibGuide.

AllSides Media Bias Chart 2021

Media Bias Ratings
At the above link, when you scroll down the page, you will see an alphabetical listing of media with an AllSides' evaluation of their leanings. AllSides uses blind surveys of people across the political spectrum, multi-partisan analysis and other in-depth analyses as well as tens of thousands of user ratings to rate the bias of nearly 600 media outlets and writers.

The chart below is linked to the same page and illustrates the type of content at this website. Generally speaking media is rated as Left, Left Leaning, Center, Right Leaning and Right.

Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC)

The pertinent part of the site looks like this. The arrow points to the useful search box on a very cluttered, ad-filled site, listed here with MANY RESERVATIONS (below). Click on the screen shot below or here to search.

Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC)
Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) is a website that rates factual accuracy and political bias in news media. The site classifies media sources on a political bias spectrum, as well as on the accuracy of their factual reporting. The site is run by founder and editor Dave Van Zandt.

It is listed WITH SERIOUS RESERVATIONS, because of the extreme amount of advertising at the site, some of which are pseudo-scientific ads not endorsed by the site owner. The prime justification for including it here is that it evaluates with a reasonable methodology many sources not reviewed elsewhere.

Zandt, the site owner, explains "We use third party advertising to prevent influence and bias as we do not select the ads you see displayed. Ads are generated based on your search history, cookies and the content of the current web page you are viewing. This sometimes leads to politically biased ads as well as promotion of pseudoscience products that we do not endorse."

Point of View (from Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Libraries)

The segment below is from Point of View: Points of View, a LibGuide created by Santa Rosa Junior College Libraries. (Permission to use has been requested)

Some publications have a specific, established and well known point of view. Use this list below as a general guideline to help you determine the nature of the material that you are reading.

TITLE	POINT OF VIEW
America	Liberal Roman Catholic
Animals Agenda	Animal rights
Atlantic Monthly	Moderate to slightly liberal
Audubon	Environmentalist
Brookings Review	Independent economics, moderate
CATO Journal	Conservative
Christian Century	Liberal Protestant
Christianity Today	Conservative Protestant
Church and State	Separation of church and state
Commentary	Moderate to conservative Jewish
Commonweal	Liberal Roman Catholic
Dissent	Socialist
Economist	Conservative British
Feminist Studies	Cultural feminist
Foreign Affairs	Balanced
Gender Issues	International feminist
Greenpeace	Environmentalist
Hastings Center Report	Balanced bioethics
Human Events	Radical right
Hypatia	Feminist
Intercollegiate Review	Conservative
Interpretation	Conservative Protestant
Lilith	Jewish feminist
Media Report to Women	Media issues, feminist
Moment	Jewish
Monthly Review	Socialist
Ms.	Feminist
Nation	Liberal
National Review	Conservative
New Republic	Balanced
New Statesman	Liberal British
Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom	Anti-censorship
Newsweek	Balanced
Progressive	Liberal
Public Interest	Conservative
Science and Society	Marxist
Sierra	Environmentalist
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society	Scholarly feminist
Time	Moderate to liberal
Tikkun	Liberal Jewish
U.S. News and World Report	Moderate to conservative
Vital Speeches of the Day	Conservative